A Song for Summer Read Online Free PDF Page A

children," she said. "What are you afraid of then?"'
    She pondered. He had already noticed that it was her hands which indicated what she was thinking quite as much as her face and now he watched as she cupped them, making them ready to receive her thoughts.
    "Not being able to see, I think," she said. "Being blind, you mean?"'
    "No, not that. That would be terribly hard but Homer managed it and our blind piano tuner is one of the serenest people I know. I mean ... not seeing because you're obsessed by something that blots out the world. Some sort of mania or belief. Or passion. That awful kind of love that makes leaves and birds and cherry blossom invisible because it's not the face of some man."
    For a moment he allowed hope to rise in him. Might she see how important it was, this job he was asking her to do? Might she have the humility to stay? Then he forced himself on to the denouement.
    "I'm afraid I didn't have the chance to lay out your duties completely in my letter. My secretary, Margaret Sinclair, will tell you anything you want to know, but briefly it's a question of seeing that the children's rooms are clean and tidy, that they get to bed on time, of collecting their laundry and so on. We try to see that everyone speaks English during the day. I suppose the English language is the single most important thing we have to offer now. Not because it is the language of Shakespeare," he said wi/lly, touching the bust of the man who made the whole vexed question of being British into a source of pride, "but because increasingly parents look to England and America to save them from the scourge of Nazism. But at night you can let them chatter in their own tongue."
    "Yes," she said. "Of course I will do all that, but I was wondering how much time I should spend--"'
    Ah, here it comes, he thought, and his weariness was the greater because for a moment he had believed in her integrity.
    "Ellen, I have to make one thing absolutely clear," he said, not letting her explain to him that she was an experienced producer of operas for the Fabian Society or had understudied Ariel in Regent's Park. "Your job is an arduous one and absolutely full time. Of course you could watch rehearsals at the weekend--last year we did The Lower Depths by Gorky--and if you wish it you could join the choir, although our music teacher has gone to fight in Spain. And the weekly meetings in which the productions are discussed are open to everyone, but--"'
    Ellen's eyes widened. She half rose from her chair.
    "Oh please, I can't sing at all. And
    I'm not very good at meetings. I was brought up with meetings and they always make me fall asleep.
    Surely--"' She drew breath and tried again. "Of course I'll do anything I have to do ... but what I wanted to know is how much time I'm entitled to spend in the kitchen."
    "Entitled?"'
    "Yes. Obviously the welfare of the children comes first, but it's not easy to separate children from what they
    eat and I can't supervise the kitchen staff without doing some of the cooking myself, it wouldn't be fair on them. And quite honestly, Mr Bennet--"'
    "Bennet. We're very informal here." Ellen, remembering the appendix scar, nodded. "Well, Bennet, I just think it would be rather unfair if I had to watch rehearsals and listen to meetings about The Lower Depths when I could be cooking."
    Bennet closed his mouth which had been very slightly open.
    "You mean you have no desire at all to act? To be an actress?"'
    "Good heavens no! I can't think of anything worse--always in the dark and getting up at midday and worrying what people think about you."
    "Or to produce?"'
    She leant back and clasped her hands behind her back. She looked thoughtful and--there was the word again --happy. "Oh yes, I'd like to produce. I'd like to produce a perfect cr@epe suzette for everyone in the school. It's easy for one person--but for a hundred and ten ... That's what interests me very much.
    How to quantify good food." She broke off and looked out